Editorial: Our times call for a big agenda

Thursday

Feb 26, 2009 at 12:01 AMFeb 26, 2009 at 8:23 PM

One of the lessons historians have drawn from Bill Clinton’s first term is that the American political system can only swallow so much change at once. In his speech to Congress on Tuesday, President Barack Obama showed he is rejecting this lesson. The times we live in call for a presidential agenda this big and we must reckon with the bad choices that have been made.

One of the lessons historians have drawn from Bill Clinton’s first term is that the American political system can only swallow so much change at once.

After Congress passed Clinton’s 1993 economic package and the North American Free Trade Agreement, legislators had no appetite for further risky votes such as comprehensive health reform.

In his speech to Congress on Tuesday, President Barack Obama showed he is rejecting this lesson. The times we live in call for a presidential agenda this big and we must reckon with the bad choices that have been made.

Obama laid out an agenda that would be ambitious even if the goal was to accomplish it over four presidential terms. Obama plans this year to tackle health-care reform, global warming, energy independence, education reform, Afghanistan, reducing the budget deficit and fixing the banking and auto industries.

“And though all these challenges went unsolved, we still managed to spend more money and pile up more debt, both as individuals and through our government, than ever before,” he said, noting these problems did not pop up overnight.

Details were sparse. They will come later. What mattered Tuesday was that the broader agenda is ambitious, daunting and finally what America needs. Absent were phony, nibble-around-the-edges issues like school uniforms or foolish, something-for-nothing, tax-cuts-during-a-war rhetoric.

The most important question is how are we going to pay for it? Part of the answer is simple: Unneeded tax cuts for the rich are going to expire, and some government programs will be cut.

But those two steps won’t provide the money needed to enact such a large agenda. Choices that won’t please some people are going to need to be made concerning Social Security and Medicare, two of the biggest federal budget time bombs.

To truly succeed, Obama needs to buck his party and its interest groups. One such place could be Social Security, where Democrats have been guilty of demagoguery for decades.

During the campaign, Obama talked of raising the income threshold for Social Security taxes to solve future deficits in the system. But he cannot rely on the wealthy to pay for all of his agenda. Excessive taxation will discourage investment and growth.

The GOP idea of investing Social Security funds in the stock market is a nonstarter, but raising the eligibility age for future generations, suggested recently by House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, should not be ruled out. We must remember that Social Security was never intended to support people for decades after retirement.

These are different, more desperate times than any previous recession, and we have a lot to do. We look forward to hearing more about how Obama will accomplish it all.